Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 19, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 19 As the calendar year ends, many business- es will turn their sights on planning for the upcoming year. Below are five methods used by top-performing organizations for setting transparent objectives, creating achievable goals, and implementing dyna- mite strategic plans. 5) Set goals. Goals are the lifeblood of planning. You won't hit your target without knowing where you're aiming. The SMART goal method is an excellent start. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. 4) Challenge those goals. Take a hard look to see if your initial goals challenge you, your department, and your orga- nization to stretch. It is essential to set achievable goals, but you shouldn't accept being complacent. Creating stretch goals is a means to push yourself and your orga- nization out of the comfort zone. Challenge yourself or those around you. 3) Align individual, departmental, and organizational goals. You can ensure ev- eryone in your department or organization is working to achieve the same results by aligning individual objectives and depart- mental initiatives to organizational goals. Incentivizing the completion of these efforts can add some extra fuel to the motivational fire. Incentives come in many forms, such as employee perks, days off, or bonuses. 2) Share your goals across the organi- zation through a shared vision. As the iconic rock band Kiss said, "Shout it, shout it, shout it out loud, and everybody shout it now!" Everyone in your organization should know the goals. Shout them loudly and often. Post them anywhere that can be seen. Share your vision until it's everyone's vision. 1) Report on your goals - Reporting creates transparency and accountability. Make sure to identify key performance indicators or important information to track progress toward your goals and report on them. KPIs can come in the form of finan- cial, quality, customer satisfaction, employ- ee, process, or any other metric important to the organization. Once reporting is in place, ensure you act on the reporting, piv- ot and adjust when needed, and respond when reporting shows progress is behind or ahead of schedule. K N O W H O W Moving from passive to active and engaged on LinkedIn 10 1: N ow that we've reached the tail end of COVID-19 – hopefully – many of us have had to make the transition back to the office. And aer two years of Zoom meetings and midday showers, it's safe to say the clothes we've gotten used to wearing are comfier than they used to be. Here are some tips for managers deciding what's appropriate to wear in the post- COVID workplace. Know the setting. Now that work environments can be so varied, not every situation calls for the same style of dress, Stephanie Coughlan, founder of Image Intelligence, wrote on Forbes.com. For example, internal Zoom meetings lend themselves to more casual attire, while any in- person client-facing meeting will call for a more formal or smart elegant look. "Employees should think about tailoring their look to the clients and occasion. If you have doubts about your style, then dress up," Coughlan wrote. Recognize the desire for comfort. Some workers might be anxious to break out the business casual, but overall, the pandemic brought about a bigger desire for comfort. "The pandemic accelerated our efforts to modernize our policies so that our people can be successful and really enjoy their work," Craig Haydamack, Milliken & Co.'s chief human resource officer, told CNBC. Have an open-door policy. If you're going to create guidelines on what people can and cannot wear, it's important to create room for their input, Larry Alton, an independent business consultant, wrote on Inc. com. Preferences might depend on a variety of factors, including race and gender, and you want your policy to be inclusive. "If you want to create the best environment for your employees, make sure you get some feedback from them," Alton wrote. "Ask them how they feel about different workplace dress codes and what would help them perform at their best." 5 T H I NG S I know about... ... Strategic planning BY MAGGIE BECKER Special to WBJ O ne of the most frequent questions I get asked is, "I have a LinkedIn profile, now what?" Having a profile is not enough to highlight your professional self. You need to actively engage (beyond liking a post) to help position yourself as an expert and leader in the field. You might be think- ing, "Am I an expert?" or "I don't have a formal leadership title or manager role, so I am not a leader." is is not true: You can be an expert and a leader in your field, regardless of time in role or your formal role and responsibilities. Being an expert and leader is about positioning yourself to be active and engaged in conversations on topics of in- terest aligning with your career passions. When recruiters are evaluating candi- dates, or when someone is determining who to reach out to for an informational conversation, those who are engaged and facilitating conversations, are the ones who stand out the best. Use the strategies below on how to move from passive to active and engaged on LinkedIn. Maximize your profile. If you created your LinkedIn profile a while ago and have not updated it since, nor strategized on how you are communicating your brand, then you are in a prime position to take steps to enhance your profile and engagement strategies. 1. LinkedIn headline ideas. Ele- vating your LinkedIn headline can enhance your professional presence and establish your personal brand. e default of your LinkedIn headline is your most recent job title. Your headline is the place for you to define your career presence, what you want to be known for. We are more than titles. Take some time to brainstorm what you want to be known for, your areas of expertise, and career interests and incorporate them into updating your LinkedIn headline. 2. Revise your About Me section. Make sure your About Me section is authentic by sharing your big picture story, including targeted keywords, and answering the ever-popular ques- tion: So tell me about yourself. A strat- egy you might try would be your three proudest accomplishments, two things you enjoy working on, and one goal or aspiration you are working towards. Engage with others and content. e most passive form of activity and engagement on LinkedIn is liking. Anyone and everyone can do it. Here are some activities that can position you as an active expert. Comment on posts and articles. When you find an article or post, con- sider adding a comment on why this topic or post resonates with you. Call out the specifics, along with how you will apply this information in your own personal or professional development. Another approach is commenting with a link to a similar article and the connection you find between the two of them. Ask a question. Show off your thought leadership by asking rele- vant questions about a topic or post. You might reshare the post, posing a question to your connections and fol- lowers (yes, there is a difference). is is a great way to begin dialogue on a topic that is relevant to you and shows others you are an engaged expert. Write your own posts. A phrase I hear a lot is "Your network is your net worth." When you find yourself with a challenge, or you found a new strategy and approach to doing business, create a post. Write your ah-ha takeaway to share with others or ask your question to get advice and insight on the topic keeping you up at night. Your posts, and comments, do not need to be long or lengthy, but enough to share some context and facilitate engagement from others. Maggie Becker is senior advisor, sales training for Dell Technologies and is based out of Auburn. Find her on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/maggiebecker. BY LAURA FINALDI Special to WBJ By Tom Cunningham Tom Cunningham is managing director at Worcester tax advisory firm Cunningham and Associates, LLC. Email him at TCunningham@ JEC-LLC.com. H O W T O D E S I G N A P O S T- PA N D E M I C D R E S S C O D E F O R W O R K W W W

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